Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace: Freedom and Censorship on the Frontiers of the Online Revolution

The Internet, in the authors' provocative analogy, is ""a constellation of printing presses and bookstores, and thereby entitled to the full protection of the First Amendment."" Using a series of detailed case studies, this legal handbook condemns as inappropriate to cyberspace the Supreme Court's 1973 standard whereby a local community can set nationwide criteria for what constitutes obscene or indecent speech. Wallace, a lawyer, vice-president of Pencom Systems and author of The Computer Consultant's Legal Guide, and computer journalist Mangan blast the Communications Decency Act, just passed by Congress, as a radical attack on First Amendment guarantees of free speech. This legislation, going far beyond its purported aim of banning violent and pornographic material, could be used to censor and criminalize political and sexual speech, they warn. Setting forth a moral, political and legal framework for the decisions facing Congress and the courts, the authors advocate a voluntary self-rating system as the only restriction applicable to cyberspace. (Apr.)